Compare the best UK cryptocurrency apps in 2022

Mobile apps are the preferred means of trading for hundreds of millions of crypto traders around the world. Our experts have downloaded and reviewed all of the most popular cryptocurrency apps and ranked them according to factors like cost, usability, and trading tools.

If you’re looking to get started in cryptocurrency, then apps offer the most flexible way to manage your money. Find out which apps our panel ranked highest below and pick out an app that suits your needs.

Best cryptocurrency trading apps in the UK

• eToro – best crypto app overall and best for beginners
• Coinbase – the safest crypto trading app
• Binance – best crypto app with the lowest trading fees
• Kraken – best crypto day trading app
• FTX – best crypto app for buying and selling altcoins

What are the best crypto apps?

The apps that performed best in our rankings are listed below. Click any of the links in the table to sign up to a top cryptocurrency app, or read on for more information about the pros and cons of each one.

Top cryptocurrency apps

1. eToro – overall best crypto app and best for beginners

eToro is the best crypto trading app thanks to the fact it offers zero fee trading and lots of useful features to help beginner and experienced traders alike. eToro is well-established as one of the best places to trade cryptocurrencies and its app offers a free virtual trading account to every user, so that you can practice trading without putting any of your real money at risk.

Other benefits include its ‘CopyTrader’ feature, which is a great tool for social trading and where you can learn the thinking behind professional traders’ decisions. The only drawback is its smaller range of coins compared to other apps, where only about 50 are available to trade at the moment.

*68% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money 

**Cryptoasset investing is unregulated in some EU countries. No consumer protection. Your capital is at risk.

2. Coinbase: best crypto app with a user-friendly interface

Coinbase offers an excellent trading app with a clean and intuitive interface. The company has made huge strides over the last few years to make crypto trading more accessible to new users and the app is an extension of that process.

As Coinbase is a public company, it’s more transparent than most crypto apps. It has to be open about how it treats its users’ money and it has made strides to offer more security, such as through a self-custodial wallet that you can use to store your coins safely. The trade-off is that the Coinbase app is at the higher end when it comes to fees, but the quality of the overall experience is more than enough to make up for it.

3. Binance: best crypto app with low trading fees

Binance rates as our best crypto app for low fee trading. As the largest crypto exchange in the world, it can afford to offer some of the most competitive trading fees in the game. You can access even cheaper fees through the app if you own Binance coin (BNB) and use that to pay the fees.

Binance is one of a number of crypto exchanges that have made an effort to become more user-friendly in the last couple of years. It has a ‘Lite’ version of its app, which you can access in the settings and which reduces the amount of noise on your screen so you only see the basics. This can be a huge bonus for beginners, as the standard app can overload you with information.

4. Kraken: best cryptocurrency app for active traders

Kraken is an excellent advanced trading platform for experienced traders. It offers lots of leverage and margin trading opportunities and a whole host of charting and analysis tools to help you make decisions.

The app isn’t only good for advanced users, however. A big plus point is the amount of educational material available on Kraken. You can access tailored tutorials that respond to your specific needs before you trade. However, it is true that the extra tools like leverage mean that the best service is reserved for those who do a lot of advanced trading.

5. FTX: best crypto app for altcoin trading

FTX is a great place to find altcoins, trade less popular digital currencies, and access unusual markets. It ranks as a leading crypto exchange app because you can trade long term crypto indices, including for specific industries like DeFi (decentralised finance), to gain exposure to lots of coins at the same time.

The exchange has only been around for a short time, having been formed in 2018, but it has quickly established itself as one of the most popular around. Of all the best crypto apps, FTX offers a unique trading experience best suited to traders that have been in the market for a while. It’s also one of the best places to make crypto to crypto conversions, if you want to swap one altcoin for another.

Top crypto app for your needs

What’s the best app for buying and selling cryptocurrency?

Binance has the best combination of low trading fees and a large range of crypto coins available. It has established itself as the largest crypto exchange for a reason and it has dramatically improved its app over the past couple of years. The Binance ‘lite’ app is a great place for beginners to start, while the regular app has a vast amount of material for users of all stripes.

What’s the best crypto trading app?

eToro is the best app for crypto trading. With a free demo account and a CopyTrader feature where you can follow the best traders, it’s an excellent place for beginners to start trading digital currencies. You can buy and sell cryptocurrencies with low fees using a simple interface, which are factors which scored very highly with our expert panel.

What’s the best Bitcoin trading app?

bitFlyer is the best Bitcoin trading app our experts tested. The best broker apps have a simple interface and make it easy to open and close trades. bitFlyer gives you a few different ways to trade Bitcoin with low fees, and is particularly good for buying and selling BTC with JPY or EUR.

What’s the safest crypto trading app?

Coinbase is the safest app because you can transfer your coins to its self-custodial wallet to keep them secure. Another reason to trust Coinbase is that it’s a public company and so has to be more transparent about its risks and security than private exchanges do. Coinbase is a great place to make cryptocurrency investments and manage your crypto porfolio.

What’s the best crypto wallet app?

Nuri ranked as our favourite crypto wallet app. Not only is Nuri a secure place to buy, store, and sell digital currencies, the app is a great way to save and earn interest on your crypto holdings as well. Like with many crypto wallets, it’s very easy to sign up for free, and the app is extremely accessible even to people who have never used a wallet before.

What’s the best crypto app to spend cryptocurrency?

Nexo is the best spending app available. It works just like mobile banking apps; you store your crypto on Nexo and you can spend it using a virtual card through the app, or sign up for a Nexo crypto credit card so you can pay with your crypto in a store as if you were using a normal bank card.

What is a crypto trading app?

A mobile application where you can buy and sell cryptocurrency. Crypto trading apps are normally run by brokers or exchanges and offer many of the same features as the main website platforms. All of these apps are available to download onto your phone or tablet and in iOS or Android versions.

How does a cryptocurrency trading app work?

It matches buyers with sellers in order to facilitate transactions. You use the app to buy or sell a coin, and the app either takes the other side of the trade itself, or finds another user who wants to sell (or buy) the coin at that price.

Trading apps are essentially just more intuitive, user-friendly versions of the website. Apps are built for convenience and for trading on the go, so you can access most features with a couple of clicks. Almost all cryptocurrency exchanges and broker platforms have their own crypto app.

However, some features can be restricted or not available on an app; things like tools and charts can be awkward and fiddly to display and bespoke interfaces like the ones provided by the MetaTrader platform are often not available.

How should I choose the right crypto app for me?

Our experts ranked the best crypto apps based on a handful of key features. Cost is obviously important but there are many more, including usability and the range of advanced trading tools. Here are some guidelines to consider before you download anything.

Never pay to download an app

Almost all crypto apps are free to download. You want to be able to trust your crypto trading app and the first step is being able to access the download for free. You should not have to pay to download anything; be wary of any platform that asks you to do so.

Look for a free demo account

Crypto brokers like eToro offer a free demo account where you can trade with virtual money. This is an excellent way to get started with no risk to your finances and learn the ropes before diving in for real.

Consider fees and the cost of trading

Every platform needs to make its money somewhere and they normally come as a charge on buying, selling, or trading cryptocurrency. Fees can be taken up-front, as part of a subscription, or in the form of transaction fees or trading commissions. Make sure you are fully aware of the cost implications of using an app before you sign up.

Trading fees can vary from 0.1% to above 2% on every trade. High fees can quickly add up to affect your bottom line, particularly if you plan to turn over a large amount of trading volume, and it’s best to choose an app that charges as low fees as possible. eToro and Binance are good examples of apps that charge low fees.

Choose an app with a ‘Lite’ version if you’re new to crypto 

You can find apps that offer a slimmed down version of the interface so that beginners only see the most relevant and useful information. This can be a great way to learn the ropes without being overwhelmed by information and is usually available in the account settings.

Decide which coins you want to trade

The range of coins available to trade varies across trading platforms. Cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase generally offer the widest selection of digital currencies. If you want to trade as many altcoins as possible, that should influence your decision on which crypto trading app to choose.

Look for charting and analysis tools

A cryptocurrency app can set it apart from the competition with its unique tools and charts. These provide its users with more options, personalisation and information. The best crypto apps provide a range of charting tools and indicators can help you improve your skills and make the right decisions.

For example, charts and charting tools are useful for traders and long-term investors when trying to read price movements. They generally include indicators like bases, bollinger bands and stochastic oscillators. Therefore, we recommend checking out the tools and charts a crypto app offers before signing up. 

Decide if you want to use leveraged trading

Leverage lets you make your budget go further by using it as collateral to borrow money from your broker. Not every crypto trading app offers leverage and the amounts available can vary, with 1:30 the maximum permitted to retail traders in the UK. If you want to use leverage, consider this before downloading an app.

Research an app’s reputation and regulation

If you’re trusting a service with your coins, then you want to make sure that the platform is reliable. Make sure you check out reviews of each app before downloading it to give you an idea of its pros and cons. 

The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) regulates financial services in the United Kingdom. You should generally try to use regulated services where possible because they offer more protection in case something goes wrong. You can find out whether a platform is regulated by searching for its company registration number on the FCA website.

Look at it’s security features

When using online apps, you want to make sure both your coins and your data are secure, so look for features like the levels of encryption, two-factor authentication (such as biometrics and passcodes), and the use of firewalls. Moreover, for wallets, you should check if the app offers cold (offline) storage of tokens to protect you from online attacks. 

Think of anything else you want the app to do

These can set certain applications apart from the competition. Some cryptocurrency trading apps have features like portfolio trackers, price alerts/notifications, news, educational content, and tutorials and automatic trades. Once you’ve settled on your chosen crypto app, look for features that are going to make your life easier and give you more options. 

Quick answers to key questions

Can I use crypto trading apps on iOS and Android devices?

Yes, you can. Crypto apps are much more widely available in the United Kingdom now compared to even a year or two ago. Almost every leading crypto platform has its own app that’s available on Android and iOS devices. You can trade crypto from any mobile device.

How much do cryptocurrency apps cost?

It depends on the type of app. There is normally no fee for downloading or signing up to an app, and wallet or staking apps are There are fees for trading coins on an app, and these can range from 0.1% of the trade to 2% or more. We have seen as high as 5%, although this is quite rare.

Some apps offer free trading, although the fees are normally paid elsewhere, such as through a commission on the spread (the difference between the buy and sell price).

Do I have to verify my identity with a crypto app?

This comes down to what sort of application you’re using. Most wallets do not require ID verification. However, brokers – and some cryptocurrency exchanges – require you to pass an identity verification check, and some will need you to provide a copy of your driving license, British passport, or another form of photo ID.

It is entirely up to the individual discretion of each app, and some platforms do not require any form of identification for using their services. Generally, however, best crypto exchanges and trading platforms will require some form of ID verification when you download and use their app.

Is a cryptocurrency app the same as a crypto wallet?

A cryptocurrency wallet is one type of crypto app, but not all apps are wallets. Many applications that allow users to trade or buy crypto let them store coins in their account, but a specialised crypto wallet provides an enhanced layer of safety and security. Some wallets even come with offline storage options which can be accessed from your smartphone.

Where can I learn more about cryptocurrency?

You can use Invezz to learn more about the basics of crypto, how it works, and to read about the different types of coin you can buy. Take some time to learn how cryptocurrency works and follow the markets for a while before you dive in and download an app.

Methodology: How we chose the best cryptocurrency apps

We asked an expert panel to rate and review the best crypto trading apps. The panel has years of experience of trading digital assets and they performed a series of tests on each crypto app in order to rank it.

Each test meant downloading the app on an iPhone or Android device, creating an account, and placing an order to buy crypto. They also made sure to put in an order to sell crypto, as well as submitting a withdrawal. Each expert then submitted a final list of their best cryptocurrency apps and we combined these to give the overall verdict.

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